


Table 7 (+ Nico)

by trulymadlymj



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Bad Parents, F/F, Grace siblings!!!!!!!!, M/M, Young!Jason, restaurant AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-13
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-02-12 23:36:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2128719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trulymadlymj/pseuds/trulymadlymj
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason's parents kinda suck, and his life is kinda boring.  Nothing ever happens to him (unless his sister and her girlfriend are around, and then there's too much going on at once).  But things might change when he meets a cute waiter, and all of the ghosts from both of their pasts that he carries.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Thalia makes dinner a lot more interesting (present)

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, the title is corny, but I laughed for like 5 minutes when I thought of it so go rain on someone else's parade.

“Hello and welcome to Persephone’s Garden, how are you folks doing tonight?”  
Jason stopped fidgeting with the sleeves of his light blue dress shirt that his stepmother had gotten him and glanced at his waiter, who looked to be about his age. After an awkward silence from his parents and a quiet “good” from himself, the boy continued.  
“Well,” he glanced at Jason and almost smiled, “I will be taking care of you this evening.”  
Jason held in a laugh as the waiter put menus in front of his father and stepmother. _Please do take care of me_ , he thought as he watched a strand of the boy’s dark hair come loose from his ponytail and fall into his eyes.  
“Can I get you anything to drink toni-“  
“We are still waiting for two, not now.” Jason’s father dismissed the boy with a gruff hand gesture. Jason looked apologetically at the waiter, trying to convey _I’m so sorry about my father_ and _I’m not like that at all_ in the same glance. The boy put on a very fake smile and nodded before leaving Jason alone with his family.  
“So,” his father started, “how’s Piper doing?”  
Inwardly, he sighed. No matter how many times he told them, his parents always chose to ignore his breakup. “Well, she’s still going to the University of California, and she just told me last week that she’s started dating an art student from one of her classes.”  
His stepmother sighed loudly. “Such a flighty girl. Don’t worry, Jason, she’ll come back soon enough.”  
It was difficult to contain his groan, but he managed. _Thalia, please get here faster. I don’t know how long I can do this alone._ “Hera, I don’t want her to come back. We broke up because we were better as friends than together.”  
She scoffed. “Nonsense, I saw you, you two were practically made for each other! You’re both rich, young, attractive, and responsible. You were very happy together, I saw it.”  
/We were happy because we were best friends, it got awkward when we tried to be in love./ “Yeah, but there’s more to love than-“ Before he could finish the thought, the chair next to him pulled out and his sister came into view. _Thank god._  
Thalia looked slightly out of place in the formal restaurant, a slightly battered black leather jacket over her skintight blue dress. Although her combat boots were a bit unorthodox for the place, Jason wasn’t expecting anything else. Her scent drifted over to Jason, but only because he was looking for it. For as long as he could remember, his sister and everything she owned had smelled like pine trees, and he could never figure out why. Another girl sat down next to her, and Jason recognized her immediately. Reyna’s long hair wasn’t in a braid today, which surprised him. It was done up all fancy at the back of her head, adding to how elegant she looked in her purple dress. Jason wondered for a second how the two of them got along so well, but he didn’t dwell on it. Reyna had been two years ahead of him in his debate club in high school, and they had gotten along great. He had introduced her to his sister at his graduation party.  
Thalia cleared her throat. “Dad, Hera, this is my girlfriend Reyna.” Jason tried not to smile (really, he did) as Thalia said this. She had been trying to figure out how to tell their parents that she was lesbian for years, and Jason thought that this was perfect. Even though she hadn’t addressed him, Jason was the first to respond.  
“Reyna, it’s great to see you again. I hope my sister hasn’t been too terrible to be around.”  
Hera seemed to recover a bit, while Zeus was still glaring at his daughter (who was staring right back. Jason had always envied his sister’s ability to stand up to their parents). His stepmother put on a gracious smile and extended her hand to shake Reyna’s. “Yes, lovely to meet friends of Thalia’s. She hardly ever talks about the new people she’s met in Minnesota, what do you all do there?”  
Thalia, not breaking eye contact with Zeus, replied before Reyna could even open her mouth. “Well, Reyna and I make out a lot. She’s my girlfriend, Hera, not my friend that just so happens to be a girl.”  
“Uh… I’ll come back later.”  
Jason jumped a little bit at the voice. He hadn’t noticed that their waiter had returned, and from his slightly red cheeks, he could tell that the boy had been there at least for a little bit. He was looking anywhere but Thalia, and when Jason turned to his sister, she was looking nowhere but him. She looked like she had seen a ghost.  
“No,” Zeus spoke for the first time since Thalia had arrived. “We’re ready now.”


	2. Yay!  Mom forgot Jason at school again!  (12 years ago)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I said I suck as summaries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this is a flashback in case you couldn't tell. I try to make time periods obvious with the chapter titles. Grace siblings give me life and kill me at the same time.

Today was going to be one of the good days, Jason could tell. The first sign of this was that his mom wasn’t there to pick him up after school like she was supposed to be. It was Friday afternoon, and he and his sister spent the weekends with mom and the weekdays with dad and Hera. Sure, her not being there meant he would have to spend an extra 15 minutes at school, but that was okay. Miss Carter, his teacher, was super-duper nice and let him stay in the classroom and color. (She even told him that he was getting so much practice that he should be the best artist in the second grade soon!) Once those fifteen minutes were up, his big sister would come to the rescue on her bright blue bike and they would ride home together. When they got there, they would play fun music and have dance parties and she would make whatever dinner he wanted and they would watch Disney movies and Teen Titans until bedtime! And the best part of all was that mom wasn’t even there to yell at them until the next morning!  
That specific day, Jason was drawing his big sister. It was turning out pretty good, it looked just like her! Except Thalia’s hair was black and he thought that the blue crayon was the black one because it didn’t have the wrapper on it, so he used that one instead on accident. Also, he couldn’t really figure out how to draw a leather jacket. Or a shirt. Or pants. So he decided to draw a stick figure with a black bottom, a blue middle (for the shirt) and black arms (for the jacket). But he still couldn’t find the black, so it all turned out blue. Also, he messed up on the boots and they looked like capital “L”’s. And he couldn’t draw heads or faces either, so he just drew a circle with a smiley face instead. But other than that, it looked just like her!  
Miss Carter walked up behind him and looked at his drawing. “Oh, Jason, that’s beautiful! Is it your sister?”  
Well _duh_ it was his sister, that was obvious! He nodded his head and reached for another crayon as Miss Carter went to sit down in her comfy chair. “Yeah, Thalia is the best big sister ever! She makes me soup when I’m sick, she taught me how to ride my bike, she tells me jokes when I’m sad, and she loves to play tag. She teases me a lot, too, and calls me names, but it’s okay ‘cuz she says sorry.” Jason looked down at the drawing. There was blue Thalia, still smiling, but now she was holding hands with a stick figure boy with a red shirt, blue pants, and blond hair.  
Just then, someone knocked on Miss Carter’s door. She started heaving herself out of her chair, but the baby belly didn’t make it easy, sa Jason sprang up and opened the door instead.  
Thalia smiled and put him in a headlock, greeting him with a noogie. Nevermind, she wasn’t the best big sister ever.” Once she stopped that, she gave him a hug. He took a breath in with his face buried in her shoulder, smelling pine needles (like always). “How ya doin’, little man? Causing trouble for poor Miss Carter?” She didn’t even see how hard Jason shook his head no (which was sad because it might have been the best head-shaking he had ever done) because she was walking toward Miss Carter. He pouted a little bit.  
Miss Carter smiled and shook her head. It made Jason sad whenever she did that, because she had really curly hair and so her head-shaking was automatically better than his with all of the bouncing. “No, Jason’s always so sweet.”  
 _Duh._ He was the sweetest kid, he knew. His sister sighed. “I’m so sorry that he’s had to do this so often, thank you so much for staying behind for him.”  
“I’m sorry that he has to, too.” Wait, did Miss Carter not want him around? “I mean, it’s not that I don’t want him around—“ Oh. Good. Jason walked to the table he was coloring at before and added grass to the picture. “It’s just that I’m sorry that there’s a need for it.”  
“Well,” Thalia glanced over at Jason, who was adding v-shaped birds to the sky. “There might not be a need for much longer. My dad’s working on getting full custody.” Jason had no idea what custody meant, but what he _did_ know was that no drawing was complete without a smiley sun in the corner, and it was even better if the sun had sunglasses, which were tricky to draw. In fact, he focused on drawing the sunglasses (which were blue because he still couldn’t find the black crayon) so much that he didn’t hear the rest of the conversation.  
Right after the sun was done, Thalia sat down next to him. “Wow, Jace, your drawing keeps getting better! I love my blue hair there, I might have to dye it. And who is that handsome devil holding my hand?”  
Jason giggled. “It’s me, and I’m not a devil!” When he looked up at Thalia, she was smiling.  
“Oh, okay. But if it’s you, you forgot something.” She picked up a black crayon—how did she find one right away? That just wasn’t fair—and she put a tiny little line on stick Jason’s mouth, right where real Jason had a scar. It looked better like that, but he didn’t want to tell her that. Instead, he folded up the drawing, stuffed it in his pocket, and ran to the door.  
“Bye, Miss Carter! Have a nice weekend,” he shouted on the way out. He couldn’t wait to get home!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ay yo tell me what you think


	3. Jason finds out that he is a lesbian (12 years ago)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Another in the past, we get back to the present next time i swear

Jason finished his bowl of mac & cheese and looked at Thalia, who was across the table and hadn’t even started on hers. “What’s going on, Tally?”  
She looked at him and grinned. “Gross high school romance stuff.” Jason frowned. That _was_ kinda gross.  
“But you look sad, and mom says you’re supposed to be happy when you’re in love.”  
Thalia pulled a face like someone had put worms in her macaroni. “One,” she held up a finger, “never listen to anything mom says, ever. Especially about love. Two,” she held up a second, “I am not in love. Three,” aaaand there went the third, “I’m not sad, I’m thinking.”  
Jason hopped out of his chair, ran around to her side, pushed away her bowl of food, and sat on the table right in front of her. “Thinkin’ ‘bout what?”  
She laughed, which was good. Jason didn’t like seeing her look sad, even if she said she was just thinking. “You know Luke, right?”  
He nodded, and he was glad Thalia saw it, because it was even faster than when he had shook his head at school. Yeah, he knew Luke, he was Thalia’s friend that was just like him! They were both blond, they both had blue eyes, they were both tall (Jason was already almost 4 ½ feet, tallest in the class!), they both had scars on their faces, and they were both super funny and handsome and great at stuff!  
“Well, Luke asked me to be his girlfriend today.”  
Jason gasped. “Gross! Doesn’t he know that you’re a sister? People date _girls_ , not sisters!” He actually thought that that would be pretty cool. If Thalia and Luke got married, then Jason would have a cool older brother, too, and they could all play Mario Kart together all the time! “What did you say?”  
“I said no.” Thalia got that sad-thinking look on her face again. “I didn’t know that he liked me like that, and I’m worried he’ll be mad that I said no. I want to stay friends with him, but I don’t like _like_ like him.”  
Jason frowned. “I don’t think he should be mad, that’s dumb. You can’t control how you feel.”  
His sister smiled, but she still looked gloomy. “Thanks, J-man.”  
After that, they were both quiet for a long time. Jason was about to start singing the guitar part of ‘American Idiot’, one of Thalia’s favorite songs, when she started talking again. She sounded quiet and nervous, not like her usual loud, confidant, brave self. “Jason, do you know—“ She took a deep breath and tried again, a little less shaky this time. “Do you know what a lesbian is?”  
Inside, Jason sighed, relieved. He thought she was gonna say something important. “Of course I do! Uncle Apollo said last year that they were people who loved to be in plays and musicals and stuff!”  
Thalia laughed now, like someone had told a super funny joke, only Jason didn’t hear it. “What? What is it?”  
She wiped a tear from her eye, smudging the black makeup stuff that she put around them every day and that Jason had _never_ tried on, nope, definitely not. “That’s a _thespian_ , dorko. A _lesbian_ is a girl that likes girls instead of boys.”  
Jason thought for a second. “Like _like_ likes girls?” Thalia nodded, and Jason thought a little more before nodding. “Yeah, girls are really pretty, that makes sense.”  
For some reason, Thalia looked relieved, like someone had taken the weight of the world off of her shoulders (a/n: lol atlas puns). “Well, Jason,” she announced, “I am a lesbian.”  
Jason nodded again. “That would explain why you said no to Luke. That would also explain why you wrote a song about a girl named…” Jason decided to stop talking all of a sudden, which had nothing to do with the fact that Thalia had started to glare at him. She was really scary when she did that, especially when her black eye makeup stuff was all smudged. He remembered the noogie from before and gulped.  
“You. You read my journal?” He tried to shrink into the table. Being almost 4 ½ feet tall didn’t seem so great anymore.  
“I just went into your room to try and find you and it was open to that page I swear I didn’t even touch it please don’t kill me!”  
She took a few deep breaths. “It’s okay, bud, just don’t do it again or I’ll rip your arm off.”  
Jason smiled because he knew she was kidding about that last part. Probably.  
Suddenly, a thought struck him, and he sat up tall again. “Wait, if a girl that likes girls is called a lesbian, what are boys who like boys called? Are they lesbians, too? _Can_ a boy like boys?”  
Surprised, Thalia blinked a few times before answering. “Well yeah, boys can like boys. Anyone can like anyone, really. Boys who like boys are called gay.”  
Jason made a face. “Isn't that an insult? Octavian from my class laughed at my friend Leo for wearing a pink shirt and called him gay.”  
Thalia looked mad again, but it didn't look like she was mad at him. That was a good thing. “No, gay is not an insult. Some people are just a-“ She stopped in the middle of a word, looked at Jason, and picked a new one. She did that a lot. “Some people are just really mean, rude, stinky jerk buttholes and for some reason they think that it’s not okay for boys to like boys or girls to like girls. They’re the ones who use ‘gay’ as an insult, and you shouldn’t listen to them. Also, don’t listen to Octavian because he’s a little twerp.”  
That made sense, Octavian _was_ a mean, rude, stinky, jerk-butthole-twerp. “Okay then,” Jason puffed out his chest, “I’m gay.”  
Thalia looked surprised. “But I thought you said yesterday that you were gonna marry Wonder Woman when you grew up?”  
“Yeah, I like Wonder Woman a lot, but I also kinda like this boy in Mr. Brunner’s class named Percy.” He thought for a little bit. Gosh, he was thinking a _lot_ right now, and he wasn't even at school! “Maybe I’m just half-gay, like a merman is half-fish.”  
Thalia smirked at the merman reference. “That’s got a name, too,” she said. “A person that likes two genders is called bise…” She looked at her 8-year-old brother with slowly widening eyes. “Bi, they’re called bi. That’s it, that’s all, that’s the whole word. Bi. Just bi.”  
 _Bi bi bi!_ “Like NSYNC?”  
“Just like NSYNC, if NSYNC wasn't just boys. More like NSYNC and the Spice Girls.”  
“Cool.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one good? Yes? No?


	4. Jason actually does not like his parents at all (present)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am a person of my word, here is a chapter in the present.

Jason pushed away his dessert plate, regretting the piece of cake that he had ordered (though it was delicious).  
“Well,” Thalia clapped her hands, “that was the most awkward meal I’ve ever had to sit through. Thank you father, Hera, you two are always an absolute joy to be around.” She looked between Zeus’ stony glare and Hera’s deepening scowl. “That last part was a joke, by the way. It’s funny because you hate me and you don’t even really try to hide it.” Still no reply, though Jason had to pretend to cough a little to cover up his smile. “Anyway, Reyna and I arranged to meet with some friends while we were here, so we must be going.” Zeus grunted in reply as his daughter put enough money to pay for her and Reyna’s meals on the table before standing.  
Reyna grabbed her purse and stood up after her. “Nice to meet you both, I hope to have more of a conversation next time we meet.” It was the first time that she had spoken all night, and her voice only seemed to deepen the scowl that had been on Hera’s face since Thalia had introduced her.  
She turned to Jason and actually smiled instead of the diplomatic smile she had learned in debate club and had used quite a bit that night. “It’s great to see you again, Jason. Hopefully we can catch up soon.”  
Jason stood up and wrapped her in a hug, partially because she was his friend and partially to show her and his parents that she would be accepted by at least one person in the family. “I’m sure we’ll see each other soon,” he replied while giving a pointed glare to his sister before hugging her as well.  
She, shorter than him by quite a bit, pulled him down into possibly the tightest hug he had ever felt so she could whisper in his ear. “I need to talk to you soon. Have your locks changed?”  
Jason had given her one of the spare keys to his apartment when she had helped him move in, and he had told her to keep it afterward, just in case. He shook his head (once she let him out of the death grip) and started to worry a bit. For just a moment, she didn’t look like her usual confidant self. She looked anxious, guilty, and very, very sad before putting on her usual face. It scared him a little, Jason was always talking about his brave big sister.  
After the two of them left and Jason sat back down, Zeus finally spoke again. “I can’t believe that she would do this. What demented point is the girl trying to prove?”  
Hera nodded. “She’s obviously faking it to anger us, but it won’t work. I can see right through her, she was dating that Luke boy a few months ago?”  
Jason cut in now. “She was _friends_ with Luke in middle school and high school, but she hasn’t even spoken to him since he joined the military a couple years ago. Also, she’s lesbian, not trying to prove anything. It’s just who she is.”  
Hera quickly masked her shock at Jason actually standing up against them and moved on. “Well,” she sighed, “maybe she is and maybe she’s just looking for attention. As if she doesn’t get enough with all those piercings and tattoos! Oh, and her hair, it used to be so long and pretty…” She gazed off into space for a little bit, as if imagining what Thalia would look like without her half-shaved head, tattoos, and nose and lip piercings. Finally, she shook her head. “Thank heavens you’re not like that, Jason.”  
 _Now or never, I guess._ “Actually, I am.” Before Hera could get out whatever she was about to screech, Jason continued. “Not with all the tattoos and piercings, obviously, but I’m bisexual.” No reply from his parents. “I like both girls and guys.”  
“I know what bisexual means,” Hera hissed, “and if you think I’m supposed to believe-“  
Someone cleared their throat behind Jason, and a black-sleeved arm placed the check in the middle of the table before rapid footsteps told him that the waiter had left. Jason closed his eyes for a minute, feeling both deeply embarrassed for himself and sorry for the poor guy that always seemed to come in at the wrong moment. _Hey, at least he knows you’re open now,_ part of him thought.  
 _Shut up,_ the other part countered.  
Hera grabbed the check and put it in front of her husband. “Well, Zeus,” she huffed, “this is your fault. They’re _your_ children, not mine.”  
Even though Hera had never exactly been great to him or his sister, Jason felt betrayed. She, the woman who had told him to call her mom since she had married his father 16 years ago, was treating him like a disease that his father had brought around. He tuned out their bickering, a skill that he had learned with Thalia’s help throughout the years. Had it been anyone else saying this, Jason would have fought tooth and nail to defend himself and his sister, but he had learned at a very young age not to argue with his father. Instead of listening to their bigoted and homophobic slurs, Jason thought about what Thalia had said earlier, and the look on her face. _“I need to talk to you soon.” She looked guilty, but Jason didn’t know what for. She had seemed so confidant during dinner…_  
The waiter came back to the table and collected the check silently as Hera and Zeus argued over whether it was genetics or how a child was raised that made them, as they put it, “wrong”. For the split second that he lingered at the table, Jason could swear that he saw what looked like understanding on his face.  
When the boy returned to give Zeus his credit card back, he was carrying three after-dinner mints in colorful wrapping and set them down next to the card. He looked mainly at Jason as he spoke. “I hope you had a nice night and I’m glad I got to help you folks, though I know I could’ve done more.” Zeus huffed and nodded in agreement with that. “Thank you for choosing to dine at Persephone’s Garden,” he was now looking only at Jason, “I hope to see you again.”  
After, he left, Jason (who wasn’t blushing what no cute boys don’t affect him nope) reached out to take a mint and noticed their colors: one pink, one blue, and one purple. He smiled as he picked up the purple one, sure that this was on purpose.


	5. Jason finally talks to the cute waiter (why am I doing that everybody knows who he is) (present)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe I should just start telling jokes in the chapter summary spot?

Outside (finally), Hera stiffly hugged Jason and Zeus shook his hand.  
“Always lovely to see you, Jason. Next time we have a little get-together, bring Piper, I would love to talk to her again.”  
He put on a smile for his stepmother. “I’ll see if I can, Hera, I’m sure she would enjoy that.” _As much as she enjoys having the stomach flu_ , his brain added. This time, he did not tell it to shut up.  
Zeus nodded a farewell before walking with his wife back to their expensive convertible that he had always thought smelled like window cleaning solution. _Thank god that’s over_. Jason reached down for the keys to his own (less expensive but better-smelling) car only to realize that he had left them—along with the jacket whose pocket they were in—on the back of his chair at the table. _Perfect._  
When he got back to the table where they had been seated, the waiter was holding his jacket and looking a little sad. _I mean, it’s not in the best condition, but I didn’t think it was that bad._ He cleared his throat to get the boy’s attention.  
“Oh,” he put on his courteous smile again, “I’m pretty sure this is yours.”  
Jason thanked the boy with a smile as he took it. “Yeah, I guess I kinda of left in a rush. Unpleasant company will make you want to do that, and you saw my parents.”  
“About that,” the other boy reached up and pushed a stray hair out of his dark eyes. “I’m really sorry. Nobody deserves something like that, let alone a decent-seeming guy like yourself. I mean, I can’t imagine what it would be like if _my_ parents reacted like that when I came out.”  
Jason’s smile grew, very much against his will. “Thanks.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Knowing my father, he didn’t tip you _nearly_ enough.”  
The boy seemed to get a little flustered (and Jason was not thinking of a dozen more fun ways to get him flustered what are you talking about), shaking his head violently. “Oh no, don’t give me anything. I - My stepmom owns this restaurant, I’m only here because I volunteered to come in when one of the waiters got sick. I don’t actually work here, your money could go to much more useful things.”  
Jason paused for a moment, fully taking in the boy’s appearance. He was tall, only an inch or so below himself, and very very thin. The ponytail that had distracted Jason earlier was kept back with several black bobby pins that blended into his hair color pretty well. His eyes were dark, too, and Jason realized that the expression he had seen when he walked back wasn’t really the waiter pitying his poor coat (thank god). No, the shadows under his eyes and the slight downward curve of his mouth told Jason that the boy had been through a lot, and the slightly-sad expression was just his resting face now. _Must be kind of like Hera’s resting bitchface, only more sad and less leave-me-alone-if-you-still-want-to-feel-good-about-yourself_. All that coupled with the black dress shirt and pants that were his uniform made Jason wonder how he was able to pull off the whole “cheerful waiter” façade so well.  
“Yeah,” he concluded while putting his wallet back into his pocket, “he definitely didn’t tip you enough.”  
The boy smiled for real this time, even if just a little, and Jason suddenly remembered just how gay he really was, because _wow._ Sunshine wasn’t supposed to look so dark. “Thanks,” he said. “And just to let you know, you don’t seem ‘wrong’ to me.”  
It was Jason’s turn to smile now, though he wasn’t exactly sure that he had stopped smiling since they had started talking. _You’re such a creep._ (As usual, his body did not listen to his brain.) “Thank you. Now I just have to convince my dad.” There was a slight pause— _was that eye contact?_ —before Jason stuck his hand out to shake the boy’s. “It was nice talking to you…” He searched for a nametag before remembering that the boy didn’t _actually_ work here.  
“Nico,” he filled in. “My name’s Nico.”  
“Nico,” Jason echoed, deciding immediately that it was a wonderful name and anyone bearing it was well worth talking to. “Jason Grace.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to go through and put code wherever I use italics so I think you can at least like it or leave a comment  
> (please I thrive off of praise or any attention whatsoever)

**Author's Note:**

> I had fun writing this, please give feedback if you like it! If you don't, yeah, that's understandable, please still give feedback bc I'm thirsty


End file.
